If you want to build a winery, and your neighbors don't want you to, what can you do? For most vineyard owners, the answer is litigation and, perhaps, compromise.

Shari and Garen Staglin took another approach: They hid their whole winery in a cave.

Man-made caves -- really tunnels -- are common for aging wine in Napa Valley; early examples dug by Jacob Schram and the Beringer Brothers are still in use. These caves maintain natural low temperatures perfect for aging wines without electricity or gas, and their typical high humidity reduces otherwise significant evaporative loss. It can even help reduce alcohol level slightly in the wines.

But only William Jarvis has also built a winery in a cave off Monticello Road east of Napa. The Staglins are probably the first to do so primarily to meet neighbors' concerns, but likely not the last as pressure builds to maintain the valley's environment.

It was expensive to build the winery underground, particularly as their plans changed midstream, but it did pay some dividends, notably savings in the costs of utilities -- a wow factor almost unique in the valley.

A 17-year quest

In 1985 Garen and Shari Staglin bought the Rutherford Bench vineyards off Bella Oaks that had been planted by the legendary André Tschelistcheff in 1966. For many years, it was his favorite vineyard for producing Beaulieu Georges de La Tour Private Reserve cabernet sauvignon.

The Staglins planted the adjoining hillside in 1987. In 1993, they moved from Lafayette where they had lived 19 years to an Italian-country-style villa they built on the site reflecting Garen's Calabrian heritage. The home can be seen in the remake of the Disney film "The Parent Trap."

Like many vineyard owners, they started making wines, and as is common, they had the fruit processed at a customer crush facility, though they dreamed of building their own winery on the 62-acre property.

In 1989, they applied for a permit to build a winery building and aging caves, and it was turned down. A major reason for the denial was objections from neighbors, who felt a winery was too obtrusive. They also were concerned about traffic on the narrow road leading to the property.

In 1992, however, as they were pondering their next step with Tschelistcheff who was consulting with them, as well as then-winemaker Celia Welch Masyczek and vineyard manager David Abreu, Tschelistcheff had a new idea. "Why not build the winery in a cave?"

The Staglins consulted experts, and eventually received approval for the project.

The construction of the caves began before final plans for the winery were made, however. Originally, they were going to crush outside on a hidden pad. "Putting the tanks inside was really an afterthought," admitted Shari.

That raised new issues. Most caves in Napa Valley have 13-foot bores, though passages of 16 feet, like those in the main tubes at the Staglins, aren't uncommon.

To put a whole winery underground, however, space was needed for a destemmer/crusher, press, fermenting tanks for red wines and storage and blending tanks as well. They needed a room 30 feet high, 33 feet wide and 100 feet long, and as it was, had to order special rectangular tanks to fit through the doors.

The cave contractor, Magorian Mine Services of Foresthill hadn't dug such a space, so the Staglins had to hire a geological engineer, Scott Lewis of Condor Earth Technologies, Inc. of Sonora to determine that the site was safe, especially after a detractor asserted that it was on an earthquake fault.

As it turned out, it wasn't, and the cave sustained no shifting in the 5.2-magnitude earthquake in September 2000.

Modifications in plans to create the big room certainly increased the cost, Shari Staglin says the initial estimate was $45 per linear foot of space, and "it was much more."

Interestingly, it would have cost more to build a building to their standards.

The Staglins also decided not to build a building for offices, incorporating them inside the cave.

It now totals about 24,000 square feet. The configuration is five tunnels crossed by three used for the aging of wine in barrels, with some space also provided for functions and the winery's library of older wines, dating back to 1986.

In building the space, the winery had to add special ventilation to ensure removal of carbon dioxide and other gasses during tank and barrel fermentation. The Staglins also ensured a much higher level of lighting than found in some caves since all operations have to occur underground. That lighting uses high-efficiency halogen and mercury vapor lamps, and of course, can be turned off when not needed.

The cave maintains a constant temperature around 61 degrees and 80 percent humidity, but chardonnay is kept at 55 to allow longer barrel aging, and the front part of the cave where people work is kept warmer, mostly by computer systems that suck in outside air. Special noise-proofing like that found on ships reduces noise from the fans, and a special berm of cave tailings further reduces noise as well as making the winery doors almost invisible.

The Staglins recently received permission to crush their red wines as well as whites in the caves, and that creates another benefit: fewer trucks carrying grapes and wine to and fro.

They welcome only 10 visitors a day during the week, and none on weekends, which is just fine with them, since they live on the site, too.

"We're happy not to be open to the public," says Shari Staglin.

Visitors should call 944-0477 or e-mail info@staglinfamily.com for appointments.

Good food, good wine and good causes

Besides making wine, Garen and Shari Staglin are deeply involved in community affairs. With their personal philosophy of "good food, good wine and good causes," they are co-chairs of the fundraising for Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, and serve on the board of the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, a concern because their son has suffered from schizophrenia.

They formed the Rutherford Foundation, whose main focus is The Music Festival for Mental Health, which has raised over $6 million for mental health charities and research. This year's star-studded event Sept. 21 features a scientific symposium followed by a reception and concert for 400, then an exclusive, sumptuous dinner. The concert is $250, dinner at their home $2,500. You can get more information at 944-0477 on their Web site, www.staglinfamily.com.